These shadows come in plastic jars with twist-off lids and sifters. Unlike most loose pigments that come in jars with sifters, I found it impossible to lift up and remove the plastic sifter.

Quality: 7.5/10

Black Mystery is a black pigment with tiny blue shimmer particles. This shade is a weak black (almost grey) and does not show much shimmer when applied dry. It’s much better applied wet: the black shade is stronger and the blue shimmer particles are more noticeable. Still, even when applied wet, the pigment isn’t opaque and a little bit of patchiness shows through. This probably won’t be a problem when the pigment is packed onto the lid, but the streakiness poses more problems when the shade is blended through the crease.

Ease of Use: 8/10

You’ll need to blend in light layers and spend more time blending the shade through the crease to get an even layer of color.

Price: 8.5/10

For around $7.00, you get 0.05 ounces (1.5 grams) of shadow. There are almost no loose pigments offered at the drugstore level, so Maybelline is definitely offering something new to drugstore makeup customers.

MAC’s loose pigments cost $21.00 and contain 0.26 ounces (4.5 grams) of product while e.l.f.’s Studio pigments cost $3.00 and contain the same amount as Maybelline’s. Though Maybelline is supposed to be more affordable than MAC, you actually pay more per ounce of shadow: $140/ounce versus about $81/ounce. Granted, it will still take you a long time to get through a jar of Maybelline’s loose pigment and $7.00 isn’t a lot of money, but when you compare the pure price-to-amount numbers, you’re paying more with Maybelline.